Careers

How to train as a Pathologist

The Pathology training programme in Auckland aims to prepare trainees for the examination for Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. Registrars may elect to specialize in one Pathology sub-discipline or more rarely, to train in general Pathology. At least 5 years of supervised accredited training are required and this may be completed within the Auckland region. The Auckland training programme cannot guarantee to meet this requirement in respect of microbiology training and registrars may be required to relocate to another centre to complete their training.

The Basic Sciences examination will usually be passed within the first 2 years of training. The Part I examination is usually attempted during the 3rd year of training. The Part II examination is usually attempted in the 5th year of training.

An example of how training works, for Anatomical Pathology, is as follows. Trainees rotate through a series of runs at 4 institutions:

1. Labplus, Auckland Hospital
   Trainees report histology and cytology, and most tertiary services are covered.
   There are 13 FTE consultant staff, 15 scientists and 5 other support staff. Annual specimen numbers are 30,000 histo specs, 30,000 gynae cytology, 4,200 non-gynae cytology.
   There is also exposure to forensic pathology through the mortuary where there are 5 consultant staff, 6 morticians, and 1 clerical staff member. Approximately 900 autopsies are conducted annually.
2. Middlemore Hospital laboratory
   Trainees report a broad range of histology and FNA cytology, and there is particular exposure to orthopaedic pathology, breast pathology, and skin pathology from the plastics unit.
   There are 7FTE consultant staff, 10 technologists and 1 clerical staff member.
   Annual specimen numbers are 23000 histology specs, 1300 FNA cytology.
3. North Shore Hospital Laboratory
   Trainees report a broad range of general histology and cytology.
   There are 5.6 FTE consultants together with 16 support (technical and secretarial) staff.
   Annually there are approximately 14500 patient histology episodes (equating to ~24,000 specimens) and 1500 non-gynae cytology specimens.
4. Diagnostic Medlab
   Trainees are rotated to DML for gynae cytology training. The Anatomical pathology laboratory has 12FTE consultants and there are approximately 30 gynae cytology screeners. There is also exposure to FNA cytology through outpatient clinics.